How to clean a coffee maker with vinegar (and the coffee pot)

Step by step: how to clean a coffee maker with vinegar

1. 1

   Empty the machine and remove the filter

   Throw out old grounds and the paper filter, and pour out any water left in the reservoir. If your machine has a charcoal water filter, take it out, because it would soak up the vinegar. Make sure the brew basket is empty.

2. 2

   Fill the reservoir with vinegar and water

   Fill the carafe with half white vinegar and half cool water, then pour it into the reservoir up to the max line. If you use a commercial descaler or a cleaning tablet, follow the amounts on the package instead.

3. 3

   Run a full brew cycle

   Put the empty carafe on the warming plate and start a normal brew, or press Clean if your machine has that button. The vinegar dissolves the white mineral scale inside the heater. Pour the hot solution down the sink when it finishes.

4. 4

   Repeat if the clean light stays on

   Some machines sense scale and keep the clean or descale light lit after one cycle. KitchenAid’s instructions say to repeat the descaling cycle until the light no longer comes on after brewing. Heavily scaled machines often need two rounds.

5. 5

   Rinse with two cycles of fresh water

   Fill the reservoir with fresh, cool water and run a full cycle, then do it again. If you can still smell vinegar in the carafe, run a third. The coffee maker is rinsed when the water coming out smells like plain water.

6. 6

   Wash the carafe, lid and brew basket

   Wash them in hot, soapy water with a soft sponge and rinse well. Check your manual first; many carafes and baskets can go on the top rack of the dishwasher, but thermal carafes and some lids are hand wash only.

7. 7

   Lift coffee stains from the pot

   If the glass carafe has a brown film, sprinkle in 2 tablespoons of baking soda with a little warm water and scrub with a sponge or bottle brush. For a thermal carafe, fill it with hot water and a tablespoon of baking soda, let it stand for an hour, then scrub and rinse. To clean a coffee pot with vinegar instead, fill it with equal parts warm water and white vinegar, let it stand for 30 minutes, then scrub, wash with soap and rinse.

8. 8

   Wipe the outside and reassemble

   Wipe the warming plate, the shower head under the lid and the outside with a damp cloth once the machine is cool. Put a new or rinsed water filter back in, and the coffee maker is ready to brew.

How to clean a Cuisinart, Ninja or Bunn coffee maker

Many Cuisinart and Ninja drip models have a Clean button: fill the reservoir with a vinegar or descaler solution, press Clean, and let the cycle run without interrupting it. The amounts, fill lines and timing differ by model, so check your manual before you start.

KitchenAid’s support page recommends affresh coffee maker cleaning tablets as a vinegar-free option, and notes you can crush a tablet in a plastic bag if it will not fit through the reservoir grid. Let any clean cycle finish rather than canceling it partway.

How often should you clean a coffee maker?

Wash the carafe and brew basket after every pot, and descale every one to three months. How fast scale builds depends on your water: hard water carries more dissolved calcium and magnesium, and that is what coats the heater.

The US Geological Survey rates water above about 120 milligrams per liter of calcium carbonate as hard and above 180 as very hard. If your utility’s water report puts you in those ranges, descale monthly. Clean sooner, whatever the calendar says, if you notice any of these signs:

• Loud gurgling or sputtering while it brews (one of the signs KitchenAid lists)
• Water left in the reservoir after the cycle ends (the other)
• Brewing takes noticeably longer than it used to
• The coffee tastes bitter or flat even with fresh beans

Vinegar or descaler: which is better?

Both work on a drip machine; vinegar is cheap and already in your pantry, while a commercial descaler works without the smell and needs fewer rinses. The best way to clean a coffee maker is the method your manual allows, followed by enough fresh-water cycles to rinse it completely.

Vinegar’s mild acidity is what loosens mineral scale. Its downside is the smell, which is why KitchenAid recommends affresh cleaning tablets, which descale without the vinegar odor. Citric-acid descalers do the same job. Single-serve pod machines and espresso machines are a different story: some makers, Nespresso among them, say not to use vinegar at all. See our guides to cleaning a Keurig and a Nespresso machine for those.

Mistakes to avoid

• Leaving the charcoal water filter in during descaling, so it soaks up vinegar and flavors the next pots.
• Rinsing with only one cycle of water, which leaves a sour vinegar taste.
• Stopping the Clean cycle partway because it seems stuck during a pause.
• Putting a thermal carafe in the dishwasher when the manual says hand wash only.
• Leaving wet grounds in the basket for days, which grows mold.
• Scrubbing the warming plate while it is hot.